Week 37: Fishing and Formers

Elder McMinn and Theurer

My week has been really good! We had been wanting chances to do service so this week we were able to help a member move out of their house on Friday night and Saturday morning. Then 3 hours after we finished moving we had another member call us and ask us if we would help plant a tree. Well, we planted more than just a tree. This member has knee problems and can't bend over much but she also loves to have a good looking yard so she calls the missionaries. We ended up planting dozens of flowers and bushes and then fixing up a tomato box. It was tons of fun and after all of the hard work, they took us to out to Hideaway Pizza! That was a really fun day but I came home exhausted and just fell asleep on our living room floor. 

Exhausted! Service is hard work.

We split the area twice this week, meaning we have two sets of missionaries covering one area. It was fun. On Tuesday we had Elder Ross and Elder Badger come down from Bartlesville because they had interviews at PresidentsPresident's on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, they had a greenie meeting for Elder Ross down here. I was with Elder Badger. He is the funniest guy! He has an interesting trick to get people to talk to him.... He carries dog treats in his backpack and takes any opportunity to give one of those treats to any dog he sees. I don't think I will adopt that technique but it was really funny to see. 

On Thursday we had our last district council of the transfer because we have zone conference this week and interviews next week. After the council, we went and had our district leader, Elder Barrett and his companion Elder Sosa come spend half of the day Thursday with us and half of the day Friday with us. It was so much fun. Elder Barrett used to serve in our area and he was actually the first missionary I met when I got out here. We went up to Guthrie and tried to visit as many people as we could. We ended up helping an older lady named Norma Jean with her lawn and then sat on her grass and had a conversation with her. 

On Friday we found out that the nasty pond that is in our apartment complex has fish in it!!!! We went out there and walked down the street when a former named RC who is 16 years old yells "Hey Missionaries!" So we went over there and went fishing with him and taught a small simplified restoration lesson with him. It was the most fun and relaxed lesson I have had yet. Plus... I caught a massive bass!!!

He caught a bass! 

It was a great week.
Elder McMinn

"Spreading the gospel is not something that we do; it's simply who and what we are. We must live our beliefs every day, then be prepared, be knowledgeable, and live with the Spirit to alert us to the opportunities."

- Carole Mikita

Week 36: Spring Break for Missionaries Looks a Little Different

I am so pumped for Spring Break! Not for the reason that you all are but because people are actually going to be home!!!

This past week was a really fun week. We spent a lot of time in Guthrie and the people there are so awesome! We keep meeting people who are asking us what we are doing there and why we are so dressed up so it makes the transition easy of bringing up the gospel.

We got a really cool Bible referral this week. Her name is Jean and she is the most sincere woman. She has some pretty deep questions but her desire to learn is the best. She wants us to teach her, her daughter, son in law, and her grandkids! We are meeting with just her today because the family is out of town for Spring Break but that is alright.

This last P-day was our zone P-day and I am in the Stillwater Stake so we went up to Stillwater and hung out on the OSU campus! We played sand volleyball there and ended up having a few students come play with us! I think it would be fun to be on a campus!

Love,
Elder McMinn

Week 35: Small Towns

Elder McMinn has a new address:

2500 Thomas Dr. Apt. 1822

Edmond, OK 73003 

This week was really good. We have been doing a ton of biking. Our area previously had 1500 miles on the car but we now have dropped down to 700 miles so there is going to be a ton more biking. It takes 40 miles alone to go to church and back  and 50 miles to go up to Guthrie and back. We had a few lessons this week and that was fun. There is one investigator named Irene and she is so solid. her husband is a little hesitant but she is convincing him to come back to church with her. She has gotten all of the major lessons so now we are really working on what she needs. Daniel is another investigator. We had been knocking on this house for the past 2 weeks and nobody ever came to the door. Last Friday, we were there and the landlady was and told us (in a really thick, black southern accent) "Nah, Mr. Daniel doesn't live here no more but if you promise not to tell him that I told you, I'll tell you where he moved." She ended up talking to us for 20 minutes telling us about all of the people that live in the area "that need Jesus" so we have a few potential investigator thanks to Carmine!

meSo our area is kind of unique. We have the northern part of Edmond which consists of some really wealthy neighborhoods but then it spans up to a town called Guthrie (pop. 11,000) and a town called Crescent (pop. 1500). It is really fun to get the small town feel and also have the nice and new things in our area too. Our mission president actually lives in one of the wards we cover.

   

Love, 

Elder McMinn 

Week 34: Guthrie, Oklahoma

Transfer Day with new companion Elder Theurer

The last few days in my area were fun. We went and saw Todd Walker. He is the coolest guy ever and he is slowly making progress. Then we saw Belinda Cloud, who is a less active member who loves missionaries and had finally started to read the Book of Mormon again. It was hard to leave but I did what I need to in that area and now its time for the new area.

Belinda Cloud

Todd Walker

Guthrie is a really small rural town but we have North Edmond which is really, really rich. We have no in between. It is really different and difficult but it is really fun.

Transfers

My new companion is Elder Theurer (pronounced "tire"). He is from Orem UT. He is really cool! He has only been in the mission one transfer longer than I have been here so that is cool to have another person close to my age that I am serving with. He has only been in Guthrie wards one transfer more than me so we are both figuring things out but it is going well so far. There is a lot of cool things to see in our area. One really cool thing that I have seen so far is the world's largest Masonic Temple. It is massive and super cool. We do not have very many investigators at the moment so we are almost starting new. We are doing a lot of finding which is fun but it is also a drag sometimes. We always feel pretty accomplished afterward even if we don't find anyone. There are a lot of cool members here. Everyone is either a doctor, dentist or works in oil so that is pretty funny to see.

When we were in Guthrie this week we went to visit a potential investigator named Jason. He was so cool. We walked up to the door and he invited us right in. He lives in a home that was built in the 1920's. He took us inside and showed us his workroom. It was filled with these massive computer monitors and a ton of other cables and stuff that I had no idea what they did. He told us all about his companion, Tanium. He blew our minds and we didn't know what to say. Sadly, he isn't too interested in the church but his wife is so that was a cool thing to hear her say.

There really aren't very many investigators that we are working with. Wedefinitelyantly working on that. I need to rely a lot more on finding by faith. That is going to be the key this next transfer.

P-day Pictures

  More Oklahoma pictures

Elder McMinn

Testimony is to know and feel, conversion is to do and become!

President Dallin H. Oakes